International Karate +

The first International Karate appeared on the C64 in 1986 and was an enhanced clone of Karate Champ.  The game had the player travelling around the world competing in one-on-one battles, under the watchful eye of a karate master.

For the sequel, Archer Mclean dropped the locations (which saved some memory) and added another fighter!  This changed the game dynamic enormously and made for some chaotic battles.

He also put some extra things into the background – the sun shimmered across the water, birds flew, fish leapt and pac-man well… waka-waka’d.

The points system also received an overhaul.  Gone was the fight for two points system from Karate Champ and in its place a six point system.  Fighters received two points for a front hit and one point for a rear attack.  More difficult moves also reaped bigger bonuses.

Seventeen moves were available to each fighter which is impressive considering that the player only had a one-button joystick!  It took time to learn the more difficult ones, but it sure looked impressive!

Rob Hubbard again created the music and the opening, psychedelic credits combined with the excellent music and chop-socky fighting sounds was an amazing creation.

There were two bonus stages in the Amiga version and one of them is my all time favourite bonus stage in any game.  The player was armed with a shield and had to deflect bouncing balls coming in from both sides and at three different heights.  The balls got faster and faster and some were strange shapes which made them them bounce differently.  Trust me, it was great.

All in all an absolute gem and certainly one of the fighting game genre’s finest hours.

Archer Maclean also coded Dropzone and the Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker series.